Gudo Wafu Nishijima | |
|---|---|
西嶋愚道和夫 | |
 | |
| Title | Roshi |
| Personal life | |
| Born | November 29, 1919 |
| Died | January 28, 2014(2014-01-28) (aged 94) |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Zen Buddhism |
| School | Sōtō |
| Senior posting | |
| Predecessor | Rempo Niwa Zenji |
| Website | Dogen Sangha Blog |
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| Part ofa serieson |
| Zen Buddhism |
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Chinese texts |
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Post-classical Contemporary Zen in Japan Seon in Korea Thiền in Vietnam Western Zen Category: Zen Buddhists |
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Gudo Wafu Nishijima (Nishijima Gudō Wafu (西嶋愚道和夫), 29 November 1919 – 28 January 2014) was a JapaneseZenBuddhist priest and teacher.[1]
As a young man in the early 1940s, Nishijima became a student of the Zen teacherKōdō Sawaki.[2] Shortly after the end of theSecond World War, Nishijima received a law degree fromTokyo University and began a career infinance. It was not until 1973, when he was in his mid-fifties, that Nishijima was ordained as a Buddhist priest. His preceptor for this occasion wasRempo Niwa,[2] a former head of theSoto Zen sect. Four years later, Niwa gave himshiho, formally accepting him as one of his successors.[3] Nishijima continued his professional career until 1979.
During the 1960s, Nishijima began giving regular public lectures on Buddhism andZen meditation. From the 1980s, he lectured inEnglish and had several foreign students. Nishijima was the author of several books inJapanese and English. He was also a notable translator ofBuddhist texts: working with student and Dharma heir Mike Chodo Cross, Nishijima compiled one of three complete English versions ofDōgen's ninety-five-fascicleKanaShobogenzo; he also translated Dogen'sShinji Shōbōgenzō. He also published an English translation ofNagarjuna'sFundamental Verses of the Middle Way (Mūlamadhyamakakārikā).
In 2007, Nishijima and a group of his students organized as the Dogen Sangha International. In April 2012, the president of the organization,Brad Warner, dissolved it subsequent to Nishijima's death.[4][5]
While studying theShōbōgenzō, Nishijima developed a theory he called "three philosophies and one reality,"[6] which presents his distinctive interpretation of theFour Noble Truths as well as explaining the structure ofDogen's writing. According to Nishijima, Dōgen carefully constructed theShōbōgenzō according to a fourfold structure, in which he described each issue from four different perspectives. The first perspective is "idealist," "abstract," "spiritual," and "subjective"; Nishijima says this is the correct interpretation of the first Noble Truth (in mainstream Buddhism, the first Noble Truth isdukkha). The second perspective is "concrete," "materialistic," "scientific," and "objective" (in mainstream Buddhism,samudaya). The third perspective is described as an integration of the first two, producing a "realistic" synthesis (mainstream,nirodha). The fourth perspective isreality itself, which Nishijima argues cannot be contained in philosophy or stated in words, but which Dōgen attempts to suggest throughpoetry andsymbolism. In mainstream Buddhism, the fourth Noble Truth is theNoble Eightfold Path.[1]
Nishijima stated that "Buddhism is just Humanism"[7] and he explainsDogen's teaching onzazen in terms of balancing theautonomic nervous system.[8]
